The present invention relates to a separator for removing foreign materials, such as sands and small stones, contained in granulated or round materials, such as red beans, soybeans, sesame seeds, pepper corns and so on, packed in a bag.
In a packed granulated materials like red beans, foreign materials like small stones may be included. If the granulated materials are utilized or cooked as they are without removing the foreign materials, a product made by the granulated materials inevitably contains the foreign materials, which is not preferable.
For example, in case red beans are boiled and cooked for food, if foreign materials, such as small stones, are contained in packed red beans, the foreign materials may be included in the food. Thus, conventionally, when red beans are taken out of a pack, at first, the foreign materials, such as small stones, are removed by hands of a person, and after removing the foreign materials, red beans are boiled.
Removal of the foreign materials by hands is very troublesome. In order to reduce labor for this removal operation, a device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 62-14121 was proposed.
In the device of Application No. 62-14121, for example, since red beans are transferred only by inclination of rollers, if red beans have shapes to be easily rotatable, red beans are transferred to the end of the rollers in a short period of time, so that the foreign materials removing operation can not be made sufficiently. Also, since the transfer of red beans on the rollers is made only by inclination of the rollers, the smooth transfer can not be made. Further, in case the device is stopped in a middle of the operation, red beans may still be transferred by rotation thereof due to inclination of the rollers.
In order to improve the device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 62-14121, Japanese Utility Model Application No. 4-62170 was filed, wherein materials which do not have smooth outer surfaces are crashed between rollers and removed. Thus, in case the device is actuated, for example, red beans which do not have smooth outer surfaces or have deformed shapes are crushed by the rollers. Namely, even if red beans are usable, red beans are discarded and wasted as foreign materials.
Further, in the device disclosed in application No. 4-62170, if red beans are crushed between the rollers, oil and the broken pieces of red beans adhere to the rollers, so that friction coefficient on the rollers changes. As a result, the original function for removing foreign materials is deteriorated.
The present invention has been made to improve the drawbacks of the prior devices.
Accordingly, one object of the invention is to provide a separator for efficiently removing foreign materials from granulated materials with smooth outer surfaces.
Another object of the invention is to provide a separator as stated above, wherein irregular granulated materials are removed from regular granulated materials, and can be usable by further treatment.
A further object of the invention is to provide a separator as stated above, wherein foreign material removing function is not deteriorated for a long usage.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a separator as stated above, wherein the foreign materials can be removed regardless the size thereof and from various sizes of the granulated materials.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.